„Naprzeciw Tatr” — Gorce jako tatrzańskie peryferie?

The Tatra Mountains and the Gorce Mountains are mountain ranges lying next to each other. The widespread knowledge and popularity of the Tatra Mountains and the anthropopressure occurring in them indicate the dominant nature of these mountains in the consciousness of Polish society. The Gorce Mountains, meanwhile, are unknown to many, often overlooked and unpopular, both among tourists and writers. The peripheral nature of the Gorce region is related to the establishment of the center of Polish mountains in the Tatras. Their myth and majesty cast a shadow on the lower, unpopularized Gorce and contribute to creating a way of experiencing them. The article analyzes the relationship between the Gorce and the Tatra Mountains. The model of the center–periphery in the horizontal approach, proposed by Elżbieta Rybicka, was used to describe the phenomenon.

STATE-CENTERED APPROACH IN OTTOMAN-TURKISH MODERNIZATION AND METIN HEPER

The aim of this study is to describe the role of the state in Turkish modernization. For this purpose, Ottoman-Turkish political history is discussed in the context of the "center-periphery" model and Metin Heper's "strong state tradition". In this context, it is discussed whether the general validity of the center-periphery model continues. The center-periphery theory, which reduces modernization to tension and conflict between the superstructure institutions in Turkey, has made the opposition between the urban-secular-middle classes and the traditional-poor-lower classes its starting point. According to the strong state tradition thesis, the ruling elites, who took the modern values transferred from the West as a reference, were insensitive to the environment while constantly strengthening the center. The authoritarian structure of the state prevented the development of different social classes and non-governmental organizations. The strong state tradition transferred from the Ottoman Empire continued to be effective in the republic period as the subject of modernization. So much so that the bureaucratic structure that established the Republic identified itself with the state and strengthened the center until the multi-party system. Cultural conflict and tension between the ruling elites representing the center and traditional society segments representing the periphery have also been decisive in terms of the power struggle. The rise of the neo-liberal wave in the 1980s had reflections on the power struggle in Turkey and affected the relations between the center and the periphery. While the old elites forming the center became the periphery, the conservative sections forming the periphery became centralized and formed the new elites. In conclusion, it can be said that the center-periphery theory and strong state tradition are still functional in explaining Ottoman-Turkish modernization with some reservations. Key Words: Ruling elites, Center-Periphery Model, strong state tradition.

Systemic Reconfiguration of Capitalism: Applying Ruggie’s Critique of Waltz in Economics

This paper identifies changes in the center-periphery structure due to transformations in capitalism since 1970. In its new configuration, capitalism not only altered center-periphery relations but also exerted impact upon peripheral units that affect the system structure itself. This paper aims to apply Ruggie’s famous critique of Waltz in International Relations to analyse global capitalism and show how the changes in the center-periphery cleavage is affecting its systemic reconfiguration in the 21st century. This research identifies the boomerang effect as a new systemic element, that is, as a byproduct of the interaction of units of the global capitalist system in the 21st century.

Modes of Manuscript Transmission (Ninth–Fifteenth Centuries)

The chapter presents some patterns of the transmission of Byzantine texts in their cultural context. It stresses the importance of material causes to explain the conservation or loss of texts, such as the use of a particular support or the conservation in a specific library; thus, e.g., the use of fragile Eastern paper undoubtedly explains the scarcity of manuscripts preserved from such a rich literary culture as that of the Komnenian period. It also analyzes the transmission of texts in miscellanies and the beneficial combination of ancient and Byzantine works; the role of the author and his circle, especially his disciples, in the conservation and transmission of his works; the center/periphery dialectic in an empire like Byzantium, where the learning and the literary canon promoted by the administration determined not only the texts that were most widely circulated but also those that were not. To sum up, the study of transmission offers a likely window into the values and goals of those who purchased, owned, read, and wrote books, and it can illuminate the multiple functions of books in Byzantium.

Migrants and Other Others in 2020 by Javier Moreno

The aim of this chapter is to study the representation of different borders and its role in the portrayal of otherness in 2020 by Javier Moreno. 2020 is a novel built on the thoughts and voices of a series of characters. Amongst these, we can find Nabil, a young man of Saharawi origin; Jorge, a homeless man with Asperger’s; Josefina, a rich young anorexic woman; and her father, Gowan, a successful businessman of Scottish origin, who has disappeared and is involved in the creation of a mystic revolutionary movement. We explore the ways in which the novel builds a dystopic society through the representation of dysfunctional characters embodying different kinds of otherness and the way in which spatiality and the body are key to understanding how this otherness is created and reinforced. With the help of the notions of limbo, non-places, hybridity, simulacrum and the dichotomy center-periphery we examine how borders are raised in the novel and how these affect the characters and the depiction of a society in decline. The notions of void and ruins recur as topics in the novel, and are an obsession for Gowan, who is both an observer and a creator of ruins through a series of actions that represent a wider economic reality where objects are bought, sold and trashed. We study how the body, which in a way is the first barrier between the characters and the outside, plays a significant role in the novel as a marker of ethnicity, physical illness or, as with Josefina, as the recipient and target of an obsession for corporal void, latent in her eating disorder. Decay, in terms of both the character’s bodies and the spaces around them, functions in 2020 as a metaphor of a dysfunctional socio-economic system that is collapsing.

The center-periphery cleavage and online political efficacy (OPE): Territorial and democratic divide in Chile, 2018–2020

Recent works have coined the term Online Political Efficacy (OPE) to assess the impact of Internet use on the perceived political empowerment of citizens. As the classic concept of political efficacy distinguishes between internal (IPE) and external (EPE) efficacies, we seek to confirm the usefulness of a new indicator of political efficacy for online engagement and assess the impact of the territory where people reside on OPE. Although OPE is mostly explained by the same determinants that account for IPE, the center-periphery divide influences OPE and IPE in opposite directions. Those who reside in the territorial—and political—periphery believe more strongly that they can use Internet to participate in public affairs (OPE), though they do not feel more competent in doing so (IPE). The democratizing power of Internet helps bridge the center-periphery social and political territorial divide.